Heater



Aug. 27, 1957 M. NATHANSON HEATER Filed Feb. 27, 1956 n 0 15 Wm M m y Ja.

ite States Patent 01 HEATER Max Nathanson, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaApplication February 27, 1956, Serial No. 567,917

3 Claims. (Cl. 219-34) This invention relates to heaters andparticularly to heaters which can be adapted to a variety of uses suchas for space heating or for the heating of solids or liquids or acombination thereof.

The invention consists essentially in embedding a heating element matwith suitable terminals between two insulating mats and subjecting thecombined mats together with resin and a catalyst to pressure in a mouldto form a homogeneous dished panel structure ready for use as a heater.

The object of the invention is to provide a one piece heater structurewhich can be used as a heating tray for solids or liquids or can be usedas a space heater without conversion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heater which, exceptfor projecting terminal studs, is completely embedded in plastic of asuitable nature considering the end use which the heater is to be putto.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heater which can beimmersed in washing water without harmful effects.

A further object of, the invention is to provide a heater element inwhich the heating wire is sewn by simple stitching which can be done inany sewing machine without special attachments.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heater which can beused as a container at times without detriment to its function as aheater.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following detailedspecification and the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, inwhich- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the tray type heater.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the basic sandwich comprisingthe heating element with its attached terminals and the insulating padsabove and below.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the moulded tray heater.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the heating element showing the heating wiresewn to the base pad.

Fig. 5 is a section of the line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken from the right hand end ofFig. 3 and showing the terminal stud embedded in the plastic structureof the tray heater.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view of a tray heater converted into useas a space heater and mounted on a wall surface with suitable reflectingsurfaces and trim.

Referring to the drawings, the heater tray 1 is formed from an elementsupporting mat 2 and top and bottom insulating mats 3 and 4 moulded intoshape with a suitable resin and a catalyst, under pressure and under hotor cold conditions depending on the type of resin used and the finishrequired.

The element supporting mat 2 can be a sheet of glass paper or be afibreglass mat and the conducting wire 5 is laid out on its surface inany desired pattern to give the length of wire required. The elementsupporting Patented Aug. 27, 1957 ice mat 2 is of smaller size than theinsulating'mats 3 and 4 so that, when the mats are bonded together, themats 3 and 4 will come together and seal around the edges of the mat 2.The width of the overlap edges being that amount required to form thesides and top flange of the finished tray. The wire 5 is held to the mat2 by a heat resistant thread 6 sewn to the mat 2 in a zig-zag manner bya sewing machine. No special form of sewing stitch is required as thenthe heater tray is formed the conducting wire 5 is embedded in thestructure and the thread 6'is then of no further use in holding the wirein place. The thread 6 can be of any suitable material such as cotton,nylon, glass or resistance wire depending upon the temperature it willbe submitted to during the moulding operation. For instance cotton canbe used with temperatures up to approximately 200 F., nylon up to 300F., glass for above 300 F., and for very high temperatures, resistancewire would be used. It is essential that the thread 6 does not burn ordiscolour during the moulding operation as discolouration might showthrough to the surface of the finished tray and thereby spoil itsfinished appearance.

The conductor wire 5 has its terminals 7, 7 threaded through the lowerinsulating mat 4 and attached to the terminal studs 8.

The sandwich formed of the heating element mat 2 and the top and bottominsulating mats 3 and 4 are then placed in the bottom section 11 of amould which has suitable cores to receive and support that portion ofthe terminal studs 8 which project into the recess 9 formed in theterminal socket block 10 in the finished heater tray. The desiredquantity of resin and catalyst is then spread over the surface of thetop insulating mat 3, and the top section 12 of the mould is thenbrought down in regular plastic moulding procedure under hot or coldconditions and with the required pressure to force the resin andcatalyst completely through the sandwich to form a homogeneous heatertray in which the conductor Wire 5' and the terminal studs 8 arepermanently embedded.

When the heater tray is thus formed the plastic impregnated sandwichholds the wire 5 to its pattern and the thread 6 no longer serves anyuseful purpose. It is for this reason that the thread and the method ofsewing require only to withstand the temperature encountered during themoulding process to prevent burning of the thread. Therefore, for lowtemperature moulding a glass thread at most is all that is required butwhere high temperature moulding is used, a thread of resistance wire maybe required.

If a pattern effect is required on the inner and outer surfaces of theheater tray 1 a patterned cloth 13 can be laid on the top surface of themat 3 and below the mat 4. The patterned cloth will then be mouldedsolidly on the surfaces of the heater tray.

The tray 1 thus formed is, except for trimming around the edges, readyto be plugged into an electrical socket for immediate use in heatingliquids or solids for cooking or for industrial use.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the heater tray 20 is manufacturedin the same manner as the tray 1 described above except that itsterminal block 21 is moulded in the inside surface of the tray and hasits terminals 22 projecting clear of the block 21 to facilitate makingthe 1 connections 23 to the conduit box 24.

3 to deflect the hot air upwardly and outwardly away from the wall 26.

A reflector 29 can be mounted on the flanged wall panel 25 to reflectoutwardly the heat from the tray 20 and to further protect the wall 26.

The heater above described has many applications either as a heater forfluids or solids or as a space heater. While the heater has been shownin the form of a tray container it could be reversed to rest on itsflanges and be used as a hot plate. Again the heater could be made inany desired shape such as round and need not be flanged, or the flangecould be formed in such a way that a lid or cover could be fitted toretain the Warmth of the contents of the tray without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A heater unit comprising a pair of insulating mats, an electricalheating pad of smaller area than said insulating mats, said heating padbeing sandwiched centrally between said insulating mats, with theinsulating mats contacting each other all around the heating pad, saidheating pad consisting of an element supporting mat, a wire element sewnto the surface of said supporting mat, and having its terminal endsprojecting beyond the said supporting mat and threaded through the lowerof said insulating mats, terminal studs connected to the terminal endsof said wire element, a resin bonding material moulded with saidinsulating mats and heating pad to form a homogeneous tray type unit,and a resin moulded terminal box on and homogeneous with the said sideof the tray, said terminal studs being located within said terminal boxand accessible from the outside of the heater unit.

2. A heater unit comprising a pair of insulating mats, an electricalheating pad of smaller area than said insulating mats, said heating padbeing sandwiched centrally between said insulating mats, with the facingsurfaces of the insulating mats contacting each other all around theheating pad, said heating pad consisting of an element supporting mat, awire element sewn to the surface of said supporting mat and having itsterminal ends projecting beyond the said supporting mat and threadedthrough the lower of said insulating mats, terminal studs connected tothe terminal ends of said wire element, a resin bonding material mouldedwith said insulating mats and heating pad to form a homogeneous flangedtray heater unit with the heating pad confined to the bottom surfacethereof, and a resin moulded terminal box on the side of and homogeneouswith the said tray and located under the flange thereof, said terminalstuds being located within said terminal box and accessible from theoutside of the heater unit.

3. A heater unit comprising a pair of insulating mats, an electricalheating pad of smaller area than said in sulating mats, said heating padbeing sandwiched centrally between said insulating mats with the facingsurfaces of the insulating mats contacting each other all around theheating pad, said heating pad consisting of an element supporting mat, awire element sewn to the surface of said supporting mat and having itsterminal ends projecting beyond the said supporting mat and threadedthrough the upper of said insulating mats, terminal studs connected tothe terminal ends of said wire element, a resin bonding material mouldedwith said insulating mats and heating pad to form a homogeneous flangedtray type heater unit and a resin moulded terminal box on the insidesurface of the heater unit and supporting said terminal studs, a flangedmounting panel secured within said tray and having its outer surfaceflush with the outer surface of the tray flange, and a reflector surfaceon the inner side of said flanged mounting panel and facing the bottomheating surface of the tray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,142,393 Bloomer June 8, 1915 2,119,680 Long June 7, 1938 2,458,184Marick Ian. 4, 1949 2,540,295 Schreiber Feb. 6, 1951 2,553,974 Lamb May22, 1951 2,572,163 Lamb Oct. 23, 1951 2,715,668 Booker et al. Aug. 16,1955

